


Imperfect Reunion

by SoThisIsAThingIWrote



Series: Variations on the Theme of Reunion [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:48:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22805119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoThisIsAThingIWrote/pseuds/SoThisIsAThingIWrote
Summary: It's not what Leia imagined, but then it never is. The force works as it wills. It has given her this; this imperfect reunion. A different ship, a different planet, a man who may not be her son anymore- but it doesn't matter, because it has given it. She can work with this.Short drabbles based on the theme of reunion - first up, Leia in a world where Rey made a different choice on the Supremacy. Canon divergence post TLJ. Heavily implied Reylo.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Variations on the Theme of Reunion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639465
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	Imperfect Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Playing around again. Is this what happens when a first line pops into your head and won't leave?? Apologies as I still flounder around trying to find character voices. Not sure about this one, but ehhhh why not I guess.

It is not the reunion Leia has imagined, but then she never really expected it to be. Of all the reunions she has pictured over the years, only one has ever gone the way she thought-

_-the first - Ben, three days shy of his eleventh birthday, bounding down the ramp of Luke's ship barely before it's touched the ground, straight into her arms-_

_-Three days before his twelfth, he waits until it's firmly in place, and walks to meet her with an unfamiliar gravitas-_

_-before his thirteenth, his fourteenth, his fifteenth, it's Luke who greets her first and Ben who appears at the top of the ramp only after his uncle has enfolded her into a warm embrace. Each year he is taller, his voice deeper, his eyes….darker._

_Three days before his sixteenth, she finds herself standing in the doorway of her too empty, too big apartment, waiting for a ship that she knows isn't going to come - any mission vital to the rebuilding and training of the Jedi must come first after all- but picturing a reunion all the same._

_Three days before his 23rd, Leia locks the door to the house and boards her own ship, unable to face empty rooms and painful imaginings._

They are calling it a ceasefire, rather than a surrender. It's a political move more than a kindness - to acknowledge the resistance and their dwindling supporters, and make it seem like they want this too.

Her son may have his father's heart, but he also has his mother's mind.

It's not a ceasefire, it's the end of what has been a slow strangulation of resources and people. It's the final cut in a death of a thousand cuts. It's the dull realization that most of the galaxy is not interested in shiny ideals, just a safe bed and good meal. 

_"A benevolent dictator," Poe yells, slamming his fist on the table in anger and frustration when news of the previously independent Ryloth's warm invitation to the Supreme Leader reached them, "is still a dictator!"_

Poe shifts behind her now, and she can feel his agitation rolling off him in waves as above them the sleek black shuttle breaks through the clouds, accompanied by an escort of three tie fighters.

_Later, in cramped resistance camps or aboard fleeing starships, Leia pictures other reunions; other ships that touch down in front of her - sometimes in the heat of battle, sometimes after a great victory, sometimes in the dead of night, or a secret location, or right in the middle of their current base. Sometimes the ship is a First Order tie fighter, hastily stolen, sometimes it is a random model with all of it's identification codes destroyed, sometimes….many times, it's the Falcon._

A gust of wind buffets against them as the ships make landfall. Poe stops shifting. Almost as one, the same band of what's left of Resistance command straightens, pride strengthening their resolve once again. They have not come here in shackles. They are not prisoners.

 _Leia has never seen Kylo Ren with her own eyes. She has only heard of the black cowl, the mask, the cross guard saber from intelligence reports, holo footage and shakily recounted tales over cups of Corellian brandy. In every imagined reunion, it is her only ever her son that appears at the top of the ramp, her Ben -_

Hydraulics hiss as the ship's ramp descends. The honour guard is first out, and then, at the top of the ramp - 

He's so tall. 

The cowl is there. The mask is not. When he draws the hood back from his face upon reaching solid ground, she looks into his eyes for the first time in nine years and every imagined reunion slips away. There is only now, this moment, this meeting. She opens her mouth. He opens his. Neither speak. 

There is movement on the ramp again, another figure making their way down. Another reunion Leia did not expect to happen. She had known she’d meet the girl from Jakku again, had sensed it in the force and in her heart, but she had thought - had imagined - the Falcon, D'Qarr, her brother - 

Rey steps up to his side. She smiles at Leia, at the people standing behind her. It's a determined smile. A confident smile. A smile that says, I know what you must think, but I believe in what I've done. In the choice I've made. 

What has Rey done? Leia doesn't know. Begun to forge a new path? Sealed the fate of the Galaxy? 

Returned a son to his grieving mother? 

Gentle fingers reach out to lightly touch a black clad elbow, and her son blinks. Leia watches as his shoulders relax slightly, his breath coming out in a soft exhale. He swallows.

"General Organa - "

It's not what Leia imagined, but then it never is. The force works as it wills. It has given her this; this imperfect reunion. A different ship, a different planet, a man who may not be her son anymore- but it doesn't matter, because it _has_ given it. She can work with this. 

"-shall we begin?"


End file.
